Midterm - Goals / Loc. of Near N Branch

What were two goals local politicains and community leaders hoped to accomplish with construction?
"The library and the mayor hoped that locating Near North on the border between Cabrini Green and the Gold Coast would accomplish two things: encourage others improvements in Cabrini and bring together residents of two neighborhoods who had virtually no no contact with one another." (pg 37)

How did location play a role in the creation of the library?
The location of the Near North branch was important 'to communicate the vision bridge the neighborhoods, as well as the practical and persuasive point that the Chicago Public Library would not fund two branches in the area'. It attracted patrons from both communities.

The right location also ensured accessibility to it by Cabrini Green while wasn't so far that those from the Gold Coast weren't too intimidated to venture into the perceived danger by car in Cabrini Green. (pg 37)

Midterm: Lifelong Learning

Koontz, C. M., Jue, D. K., & Lance, K. C. (2004). Neighborhood-based in-library use performance measures for public libraries: A nationwide study of majority-minority and majority white/low income markets using personal digital data collectors.

How do libraries fulfill a role in the process of lifelong learning for low-income persons?

"Public libraries are one of the few if not only public information resources in areas having a high concentration of low-income individuals... public libraries are vital in diminishing the information gap between the technical elite and the technical poor..."(pg. 30) Libraries are fulfilling the role for the low-income population by providing the free access to resources. Access to the internet, and access to literature not only helps students with their research but can be utilized by anyone to learn at least the basics about any skill set. In this way libraries become a lifelong tool for the have nots. As long as libraries stay up to date with their technology and means of access, anyone with access to the library will be just as conected to resources as anybody else with the luxury of internet at home.

Midterm: What is GIS...?

What is GIS, and how and why did the researches use it in the context of this study? Why were notions of space important?

First of all, GIS stands for geographic informational systems. In one part of this article software was used to plot the closest library to any location in the city, creating polygons among the NYC area. GIS can be useful to create maps (known as cartography) but they also include useful ways to obtain certain information that is area specific. The polygons mapped onto NYC were used as spacial units that were analyzed by data such as population, race, median household income, and educational attainment for the population. It can be assumed that any given individual would most frequent the closest library to their house so this information was used alongside the data received from each library to analyze the public uses and issues with the libraries.

If this field of study at all interests you our college offers a certificate in GIS (http://www.geography.wisc.edu/GISCertificate/index.htm). The certificate includes 4 classes and some electives. To get an idea of learning more about GIS the four base classes include Geology 370, 377, 560, 578, which are named Introduction to Cartography, Introduction to GIS, Advanced Quantitative Methods, and GIS Applications respectively.

Neighborhood-based in-library use performance measures... week 4

List some of the alternative measures of library use the researchers identified and collected usage statistics on. What can these alternative measures tell library management, administration and others about a given branch library's use?

Alternative measures:

-Language of materials

-Transaction type (in person, by phone, etc)

-Age of user

-Library location of activity

-User activity

-Computer software used

-Number of users in activity

By using these alternative measures, instead of relying solely on circulation data, a better sense of the actual library use can be gained. Library management will learn where to invest more time and effort in the library and administration can better appropriate funding to areas of the library that need it. These alternative measures can help to make the library more effective and more appealing to what the public is actually interested in using the library for.

Pragmatic Technology-Week 5 (for Midterm 1)

From "Community Informatics: Integrating Action, Research, and Learning."

Featured on Page Eight

Definition- meeting human needs and accomodating all users in the creation and use of ICT's( Information and Communication Technologies).

1) Is a part of the principle of Community Inquiry: the ICT is not only a device for bringing excluded classes into information society and the digital public forum, but also, a context itself for the understanding of society and an instrument to conduct efforts in research, organization, and facilitation to bring the formerly excluded into the digital society.

2) Emphasizes a strong link between social groups and social institutions to understand societal needs and to cooperate in finding solutions to the digital divide to benefit society.

3) Stresses democratic inclusion in society as the only way to include new users in the digital information society in a way that is natural and meets its full potential.

- Comon Language Notion
-Meeting real human needs

Extrapolated to the whole picture of connecting the formerly disconnected:

**Society and implementors of new technology must openly converse, be on the same wavelength, and pursue the same goals for the successful proliferation of information technology to former nonusers with technology being the main vehicle for reaching society, analyzing society, and integrating society in the context of the four c's( content, connectivity, capability, and context) into the technology driven information society that we live in.

Midterm - Social Interactions

To what does Putnam attribute the change in the social interactions of groups since the mid-20th century to now?  Provide a few examples, both before and after.

According to Putnam, Americans are becoming less concerned with community wellbeing as we were in the past, due to our increasingly individualistic society.  Putnam writes: “In several surveys in 1999 two-thirds of American said that America’s civic life had weakened in recent years, that social and moral values were higher when they were growing up, and that our society was focused more on the individual than the community.”  Social gatherings such as bowling leagues, poker games, and group barbecues seem to be disappearing and factors like the Internet and social movements may play a role in this.  

Gentrification in Cabrini Green and the Gold Coast

According to Mirriam-Webster's online dictionary, Gentrification is defined as the process of renewal and rebuilding accompanying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents.

One of the most fitting examples of this occured in Cabrini Green when the new Near North Library was built. When they built the library, they had the idea that they would build it on the border of the "slum" neighborhoods so as to make it as easily and centrally located to both communitites. What ended up happening is once the library went in, the neighborhood started getting less rough and newer buildings started going in to complement the library. Once this happened, property values began to rise and a new group began moving into the area: the middle class. When the property owners realized they could start charging higher rent because of the new, higher income levels, the low income families got driven out of the area, many into lower quality places, because they couldnt afford to live there anymore. This is a prime example of gentrification in Chicago.

Midterm 1- Week 2 Japzon and Gong's article

What is "central- place theory"?

The central-place theory is a location theory that explains the locations of services such as libraries.  The study found that the frequency of visits by people to libraries can be predicted by travel time and transport cost to the library.  So the idea is that the location has very long-term effects on the use of the libraries.  For example the closer the library is to the consumer the more likely they will frequently use it.  In choosing a location of a library this theory looks at the geographic range of the library market area and the characteristics of the people that live in that area to determine the best location of the library.  

This information can be found on page 448 of the Japzon and Gong article.  

Midterm- Communities, Learning and Democracy

Kvasny, Kranich, & Schement (2006). Communities, Learning, and Democracy in the Digital Age.

4 C's 

Context: "Socio-technical network" refers to the way that communities will try to connect their social structure (internal) to the technological world (external). The factors that are included in the internal sphere are environmental, economic, and social equity issues. The question is how to hook up a community to the internet and what kinds of barriers will be faced from theses areas.

Connectivity: It is not enough now to just have "internet connection" but the connection speed must be fast enough and have enough capacity to be able to keep up with the latest online programs and features. 

Capability: The skills necessary for using the internet do not include just computer skills but also technological savvy and the willingness to learn new interfaces. Increasingly diverse software is being produced and communities and companies have to devote a lot of time to training the public/employees to use the new technology. 

Content: If we take for granted that the public has and knows "how to use" the internet, we also have to make sure that people have a reason to use it before we assume that they will. People need to know about what websites are out there that might interest them, such as social networking sites, community pages, or local news. 

Midterm- Community Analysis

Sarling, J. H., & Van Tassel, D. S. (1999). Community analysis: Research that matters to a north-central Denver community.

· What is “community analysis”?

“Mary Cutler (1896) identified community study as an essential element of librarianship, exhorting the librarian to “be a careful student of his own town…that he may catch the spirit of the civic life and relate the library to the whole…that he may select books, establish branches, [and] open up new avenues of communication between the library and the people.” –p.7

· Define the “CARI model”? What are its four perspectives?

“The Community Analysis Research Institute (CARI) model begins with a focus on the community from four perspective- individuals, groups, agencies and lifestyles- and incorporate both quantitative and qualitative research methods to collect a variety of data including demographic characteristics, history of the community, topographical features, transportation routes and traffic patterns, commercial activities, communication patterns, housing, education, cultural activities, health facilities, employment, recreation, entertainment, and the characteristic lifestyles of the community and its sub-cultures." -p8-9

Midterm-Public Library Use in NYC

What did the researchers discover about circulation statistics? What main recommendations did the researchers make?

The researchers found that library circulation per capita was higher in a library branch with a smaller service area and better spatial accessibility (Page 456).

One recommendation was that disadvantaged neighborhoods can improve the circulation in their libraries by targeting residents with high school diplomas. They should focus on increasing the number of library users instead of increasing the frequency of existing library users' visits. Secondly, disadvantaged libraries should have materials and an outward appearance that reflects their neighborhood characteristics. In other words, the library should be integrated into the neighborhood and social interaction (Page 460-461).

They also recommend that libraries in disadvantaged neighborhoods should get higher budgets than are proportional to their circulation figures, not ones that are equal to them. This would bring the libraries social justice because it would help to break the cycle of under-utilization. The money could be used to attract more people to the library or to extend their hours. Moreover, libraries should account for the in-library use of their materials, since they are used more often than materials that are checked out of the library. This can better accurately assess the level of support needed for the library. In the long term, a good relationship between library use and social capital in disadvantaged neighborhoods could be established to improve and sustain the use of library branches (Page 461-462).

Midterm - Race and Place

- Describe Hall's childhood local library, the "yellow palace." What were it's features and/or barriers? Where was it located within her community?

"Anti-theft bars covered every possible point of entry. Not a haven by any means... ... The building itself was eclipsed by the adjacent police station and neighborhood jail." (31; 2nd page of reading)

The "yellow palace" is Hall's neighborhood library, and it is ill funded, not welcoming, and small. There are bars on all the windows and it is placed next to a police station and jail - not exactly the most calming and welcoming of atmospheres. There are only two small reading areas.

- Now describe the "white cathedral."

"... We also paid a visit to their public library, a gleaming white, newly blue-carpeted edifice to self-learning. I was speechless. Not one burglar bar. Instead, rows and rows of reading materials and soft chairs." (31; 2nd page of reading)

The "white cathedral" is described as large and welcoming, with a multiracial staff and lots of room to lounge and read. Instead of closing early, it stays open later and is more accommodating to patron's hours. It intimidates Hall's grandmother and is not at all like the "yellow palace."

Midterm--The Problem of Leisure

The problem of leisure is the fact that "Americans seemed to have too much time on their hands" (16). This is seen as a problem because if Americans have an excess of free time they will lose sight of how to spend that time wisely and with ease.

This problem of leisure was first noticed in the 1960s when "community groups across America had seemed to stand on the threshold of a new era of expanded involvement" (16). Various community groups were seeing activity increase at a high rate because citizens had more and more time to actively participate in these groups.

Midterm- Bridging & Bonding Social Capital

Give an example of both bridging and bonding social capital. Which one is inclusive and external, and which, is exclusive and internal? Which one is "glue" and which one is "WD-40"?

Pages 22 and 23 of "Bowling Alone"

"Of all the dimensions along which forms of social capital vary, perhaps the most important is the distinction between bridging (or inclusive) and bonding (or exclusive)." (p 22)

Bridging Social Capital:
"Examples of bridging social capital include the civil rights movement, many youth service groups, and ecumenical religious organizations." (p 22)
"Bridging social capital provides a sociological WD-40." (p 23)

Bonding Social Capital:
"Examples of bonding social capital include ethnic fraternal organizations, church-based women's reading groups, and fashionable country clubs." (p 22)
"Bonding social capital constitutes a kind of sociological superglue" (p 23)

Midterm - Social Capital

Social Capital: What is this? Can you define it?

Social capital is defined on p. 19 in "Bowling Alone."
-Social Capital theory is that social networks have value b ecuase our lives are made more valuable and productive because of our social ties. Social contacts can affect the productivity of individuals and groups. Social capital refers to connections among individiuals- social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them. "Our social networks are important in our lives, often for finding jobs, more often for finding a helping hand, companionship, or a shoulder to cry on."